Monday, December 7, 2009

Government. Debt. Small Business

Government debt damages everyone - especially small business.

In this time of massive debt with people voting for leaders who support adding to the debt, it might be good to once again read what one of our Founding Fathers wrote not so very long ago (in the ages of nations).

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat in our drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labors and in our amusements, for our callings and our creeds...our people.. must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live.. We have not time to think, no means of calling the mis-managers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow suffers. Our landholders, too...retaining indeed the title and stewardship of estates called theirs, but held really in trust for the treasury, must...be contented with penury, obscurity and exile.. private fortunes are destroyed by public as well as by private extravagance.

This is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of society is reduced to mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering... And the fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression." Thomas Jefferson

Friday, November 20, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Learning to Lead by being Led

Proverbs 20:24 (NIV) A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

For the Christian Leader, this may be a “Well, Duh!” verse. Of course! Really? Interesting conundrum here: we have a responsibility to think and act; but in our doing so, we never contradict God’s sovereignty.

As one moves through management and into leadership, bosses, processes or initiatives, which seem to be outside the spiritual realm, most often direct steps. This verse is one of those very tough leadership verses for we supposedly “know the way.”

You’re the leader: Strategy has been formulated. Implementation is in process. The vision is shared. The team is focused on the mission. Actions are shaped by the core values. You inspire and motive. You lead. But it’s not autonomous.

The key here is that this verse is PERSONAL – it's our individual steps that God controls. He works in all things – our bad decisions as well as our good ones – for His glory and purpose.

Scripture makes it clear: to lead, we must first be willing to be led, which demands of us a constant dependence on God. When I stop depending on Him and just venture out with a “Griff-generated-thing,” it most often results in being all about me. Not good. That’s “walking by sight” – not by faith.

Are you joining God, in prayer and by faith, to direct your “steps” – even at work?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Fighting Gossip

The internal politics of an organization can damage an otherwise healthy culture. Conflicting views of business strategy, for example, often yield pettiness, personal attacks and the politics of the destruction. Leaders, in both “sacred” and “secular” organizations, must deal with the human tendency to devour gossip.

Proverbs 18:8 (MSG) Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you really want junk like that in your belly?

When leaders allow the team to eat the cheap candy of gossip, the work environment becomes charged with negative energy that discourages at best and destroys at worst. Consequently, people loose faith in the leadership, and even good ideas for solving business problems are viewed skeptically.

When Adam and Eve realized “they were naked…and hid themselves,” we humans have developed a lust to expose the nakedness of others by telling stories that tear down the character of the person, or build ourselves up. The sinful result of having the “knowledge of good and evil” is judgmental behavior – gossip being one expression of it.

Leader, here are some tips to handle office gossip:
· Make certain you are not providing cheap candy to those with a “sweet tooth.”
· When making tough business decisions, collaborate effectively.
· Air conflicting strategic views.
· Ask hard questions, without demeaning, that demand critical thinking.
· Then, after a path is chosen, ask each team member how he or she will help motivate and inspire people to follow the direction just set.
· If team members cannot get behind the decision after this process, they don’t belong on the team. It’s a cliché, but applies: there is no “i” in team.

Most importantly, gossip is a spiritual battle; therefore be sure that you fight it with spiritual weapons – or you will loose.

Are you armed correctly to fight spiritual battles, like gossip, at work?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Monday, November 16, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: The Heart of a Leader is the Key

Proverbs 16:21 (NAS) The wise in heart will be called understanding, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.

Definitions of leadership include words like influence, persuasion and motivation, i.e. the ability to inspire others to do what they normally may not consider doing.

Those writing about leadership agree that the simplest definition of a leader is a person who has followers. Street gangs have leaders. Criminal organizations have leaders. Organizations of followers have a leader. Right. Our focus then, is not about leadership, per se; it is about the right kind of leadership.

Wise leadership develops from other-centeredness that flows from a commitment to purpose greater than self; an ethical framework that cares about others first; and a view of the world that recognize individual lives have meaning.

Leadership is about - heart. Motives are changed. Perspectives are different. The intent of this heart yields “sweetness of speech” that increases impact – speech that motives, inspires and transforms listeners from hearers to heeders.

Transformational leaders are first committed followers. When your heart is in sync with God’s heart, your persuasiveness takes on a winsomeness that results in mobilized action in your followers.

Do you want willing, motivated, and committed followers? Start with your heart.


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Friday, November 13, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Understanding and Prudence

There are many expectations followers have about their leaders: one in particular is the leader’s ability to “understand.” A well-rounded leader wins the favor of followers by faithfully communicating, “they get it.”

This is a leader who has learned to both manage complexity well and lead clearly through the tensions inherent in the structural conflicts involved in change. Careful! Success here can lead to personal hubris. The “prudent” remembers that it is their Creator who has equipped them, not they, themselves.

Effective leaders understand that the tension between continuity and change is perceived differently by each follower and is based on how each were “hard wired.” The aware leader can inspire and motivate in a way that “wins favor” because this leader recognizes the communication style that will get through and get action for each member of the team. Jesus employed different approaches based upon the listener to whom he was speaking. Shouldn’t we?

Proverbs 13:15-16 [PGL] Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the social deceiver whose conscious is warped does not endure. The prudent acts with knowledge, but the fool lays open his foolishness.

Those practicing manipulative management and self-serving leadership have become slaves to their own ego. They are fools. The music of life is not in the baton of the maestro, but in the musicians in the orchestra.

The prudent leader with good understanding is the maestro we favor. The score of the music is the common purpose. The musicians’ take personal responsibility for fulfilling their portion of the purpose. Remember, tuning the orchestra does not produce pleasant music, but is necessary. The music begins when the conductor, with a clear understanding of each musician’s role, and knowledge of the author’s intent with the piece, raises the baton to start the music.

Are you a maestro trying to be an orchestra?
Do you know the “author’s intent” in the score of life and it’s expression at work?



Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Guided by Integrity

Leaders who are driven by integrity make a difference – they are the ones who manage change well. Completeness I believe, has at its core an obligation of each leader to “know self” and this is a journey of three, interconnected phases:

Understanding Purpose:
· Do you know why you are here?
· What is your purpose? Have your written your personal vision statement?
· Why were you created?

Establishing Personal Ethics:
· What are the guidelines that direct your intentions and behavior? Do you have a list of words that you hold fast and dear?
· Do you believe that personal truthfulness, accountability and respect for the individual are without variation even in the face of changing circumstances?
· Have you written your core beliefs? Do you read them?

Developing a Worldview
· Why are humans on earth? How did we get here? Have you thought this through in a way that will help you motivate, inspire and challenge followers?
· What is the human condition? Are we just blank slates imprinted by environment and DNA? Are all humans sinners?
· What is the answer - the solution - to the human condition? Is our salvation a good education? Riches? Government? The Lord Jesus Christ?

Proverbs 11:3 (AMP) The integrity of the upright [righteous] shall guide them, but the willful contrariness and crookedness of the treacherous shall destroy them.

“Integrity,” here meaning not only complete, but also ethical straightness and perfection, is from a Hebrew word used only in this verse in Proverbs and four times in the book of Job - notably when God challenged Satan that Job would continue to “hold fast his integrity,” and Job’s wife challenged him by asking, “Do you still cling to your integrity? Curse God and die.”

Job apparently wrestled well with these questions. Even in the midst of horrific circumstance, he knew who he was, what guided him and how that fit into his worldview. He was an authentic leader.

Who and what guide you?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Wise Words Inspire

All sorts of people can inspire, motivate to bring about change. Sometimes, the oasis of hoped for change is just a desert illusion.

Proverbs 10:11a (NKJV) The mouth of the righteous is a well of life…

Not so with a righteous leader: this person draws from a well of “living water” and motivates people to move (change) quenching their thirst with “the healing water” from the Giver of Life.

According to John P, Kotter, (Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management), a leader sets the direction, aligns the key factors that will yield success, motivates and inspires and produces positive change. To do these things, words take on great power. If a leader’s words are colored by discouragement, hesitancy based on current circumstances and an almost fatalistic recognition of present conditions, motivation is lost. Followers are not inspired. There is no joy for the words are not drawn from the “well of life.”

Yes, in the year 2009, we are going through economic hardship – some of us. Not all. There are still “winners” in the stock market. Some businesses are counter-cyclic.

Regardless of your season, the personal focus must be on how the Lord is showing up even if we are in the “winter of our discontent.” Christian leaders must first communicate joy - because the “joy of the Lord is your strength.” Effective leaders speak first of what is going well (in a church or ministry context, it would be a conversation about God’s goodness) before s/he communicates the trials that must be faced and overcome. We can only truly motivate and inspire when we draw first from the “well of life.”

Leader: do your words result in joy, hope and inspiration to bring about positive change?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Monday, November 9, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Skilled Living is a Significant Life

Proverbs 9: 1, 10 (MSG) 1Lady Wisdom has built and furnished her home... 10Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-GOD, insight into life from knowing a Holy God.

A special house has been built for Believers and it should be enough - but many times, we spend time looking out the window at other buildings that seem bigger, better, bolder.

The world does this as their practice of living. Never content. Always wanting more.

Building, per se, is not wrong, misguided or to be ignored. Leaders are often called "to build." Building a meaningful, significant life is important. That's building to the model of Wisdom's house. Skilled living - that’s the key.

Christian business leaders have the opportunity to demonstrate what God can do with a business wholly committed to him -- one that thrives, grows and is profitable - an enterprise run for His glory. Dickens would not have had much material to use if Christians, at the time his novels were placed, were committed to running Christ-enabled businesses.

Building a businesses, or simple building a life, God's way should be better - the leader more skilled at living because she/he isn’t trying to build a house on a foundation of the shifting sands of relative values.. We are called to build lives of significance at home, at work, at play - and success in this arena is measured by how well we walk down the path of skilled living.

Are you walking on the path that leads to the house Wisdom has built?

Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Thursday, November 5, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Absolutes

Whom you look to for wisdom when leading your team, your small business, your ministry determines – well, everything. Your understanding of personal purpose, your core values and your worldview all merge at this intersection.

Biblical business ethics adheres to the underlying principle that there is absolute, foundational truth upon which you must build your thought life and behavior. Solomon of old never assumed that truth was relative and that morality was a function of personal choice: his worldview drove his proverbs.

Proverbs 5:1-2 (NIV) My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.


Finding and assimilating Godly Wisdom drives two actions: first, that your view of others will not be self-serving (maintain discretion); two, what you say actually builds the continuity of useful knowledge (your lips may preserve knowledge).

Leadership that honors others and builds a legacy begins at the source. Pay attention to what God teaches first then you’ll be better able to understand and avoid the situational, shifting ethics of man.

Who is your source for wisdom: mankind or God?

Copyright © 2009 P. Griffith Lindell

Monday, November 2, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Fundamentals of Leadership

Business schools demand certain perquisites to take advanced classes. Those “fundamental” classes lay the foundation for the deeper thinking required.

Prov. 2:2 (NAS) Make your ear attentive to wisdom; incline your heart to understanding;


So also, Biblical Leaders have foundational classes; not only are we to “tune into” wisdom, we are to apply wholeheartedly what we have learned – it is an action consisting both of reason (thinking) and will (behavior). Inclining [our] heart goes to our purpose – why we were created. If the "chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," we start that journey by acknowledging we need to first learn wisdom from our Creator.

Prov. 2:9 (NKJV) Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

The result? Effective and Godly leaders will develop an understanding of the impact of four attributes that shape leadership.
  • Righteousness – here meaning conformity to an ethical standard. Word most often used in reference to judges who, looking at the law (standard), rule without partiality. Leaders have an ethical standard that is absolute and grounded and does not shif depending on the situation.
  • Judgment – here emphasizing the application of the standard, even in a state of ambiguity. Ethics is lived out in the real world where all things are not black and white: it is one of the ramifications of eating from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It’s tough out there. Our ego will often cloud our judgment – at least that’s been my experience. I, too often, make decisions based on what Griff thinks – not what God thinks. Conforming to the image of Christ is an every day commitment of will.
  • Equity – here used in a clear legal context means simply level or straight. The drive to “know ourselves” (wisdom) gives birth to behaving in a way that is “true.” I understand the difficulty here: one can have the best intentions: behavior, however, is what makes the impact. Can’t be a “straight-shooter” unless the heart is plumb, level and straight. That takes lifelong work.
  • Knowing every good path. Every. Catch that. Take it from one who has stumbled along. Fallen often. “Every” is a tough standard. Interesting that this word for “good” has a practical meaning – economic benefit. I’m sure that “a good path” was presented as an option that I choose to ignore. It’s that “heart” thing again. One must will to choose the good path. Every time.

Have you taken your fundamental classes yet? Need a refresher course. I know I do.

Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Asset Management

Proverbs 27:23 – 27 (MSG) [Be diligent to] know your sheep by name; carefully attend to your flocks; (Don't take them for granted; possessions don't last forever, you know.) And then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns, you can knit sweaters from lambs' wool, and sell your goats for a profit; there will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter.

“Know the state of your flock” is a challenging instruction especially in our current culture is focused on renewable resources. But these verses struck a different chord in the instrument of my mind: the customer chord.

Customers are assets that must be managed and nurtured. Customer retention has proven to be of great value to a firm – there exists a good body of literature supporting this contention. Common sense tells us that keeping a customer has value beyond just the transaction.

In my seminar on Sales, I often ask the question: Is your customer list a list of transactions or a list of friends? It is good business to know your customers – I mean, really know them, Care about them. Remember, it’s not about you.

Looking at customer’s as “friends” (know your sheep by name) is even more vital for the Christian Servant-leader. We are called to view work as a mission field (Matt. 28: 19-20 “As you are going…make disciples….”) It is difficult to make a disciple of a stranger.

If your customers see you as a person who: is a “straight shooter;” caring; a listener; a problem-solver (even with solutions that cannot be personally provided); is joyful despite the circumstance, you will be attractive. These behaviors will open conversations. One of those conversations can be about eternal issues. That conversation will give new meaning to customer service.

Do you take the time and effort to become a friend to your customers?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Friday, October 23, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Meditating on the Right Things Yields Eternal Results

We all meditate: we just don’t think about it as such. Probably your mental image is a yoga position, or you pictured a cloistered monk; however, don’t be deceived! What you think about when you are working-out – jogging or walking along – where you mind wanders and settles – that is meditation.

For some that thought-time is filled with complaining, anger, bitterness, gossip, sexual images, envy (coveting): Christian leaders are called to “guard [our] hearts” and ask forgiveness for the sin that is hidden in our thoughts, and turn our hearts toward our Creator, Redeemer and Friend.

Proverbs 23:17(AMP) Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long.

Yes, life happens. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. The “just” have been given all-weather gear to keep them dry, safe and warm no matter the storm. We just have to use it. We don’t – at least I know I don’t all the time. I sometimes like to soak in my self-pity, my envy, my coveting. Think of it this way: what was Eve thinking about when the Serpent tempted her? Was her heart inclined to God, or to the lust of the eyes and the pride of life?

What you think about – meditate upon – matters. God’s instructions to Joshua concerning His Word was very straightforward: “Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”


Will you join me in a journey to righteously meditate?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: How Are You Known?

Understanding personal purpose - Why are you here? - yields not only knowing "who you are" but also how you impact others.

Proverbs 22:1 (NIV) A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Consider that your impact on others as a leader has more value than all the wealth you can accumulate.

A.W. Tozer offered seven “tests” for us to use when we want to understand better how we are “known” and what really drives us:

1. What we want most
2. What we think about most
3. How we use our money
4. What we do with our leisure time
5. The company we enjoy
6. Who and what we admire
7. What we laugh at

And remember, as my Mom used to say: “What you do speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you say.”

What does your impact as a leader "say?"


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Monday, October 19, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Reject the Blame Attitude

The blame-game. Easy to play, given we have so very much practice. Hard to stop, given our self-centered natures. When our words are wrong, we blame others. When others make mistakes because of our folly, we blame. Blame. Blame Blame.

Pr. 19:3 (NIV) A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

Christian leader let me put this in context: I’m not writing about mistakes, it is about an attitude! The word “folly” comes from the same root as our English word evil, and in this context, means simply “doing it my way.”

At work this can be played out when the “Sunday stuff” we wear to church is thrown off Monday – Saturday - when our language, coarse humor, jokes, and “in-your-face” attitude all reflect the folly of the Evil One. All done because somehow, the thinking goes, this will help us mix and communicate with those in the “world.” (I can't help think of the barber shop scene in the movie Gran Torino). It won’t. It will slowly destroy you. Christian business person, you and I are called to be Holy - in the world, not of the world.

Is stress building in your life? People at work making mistakes. Bosses on your case about making the numbers. Customer’s grumbling. Time to look in not out. Blaming an employee for poor performance blasphemes God. Blaming the boss for rigid adherence to numbers blasphemes God. Blaming customers, blasphemes God. We are called to encourage, teach, inspire. Not blame. The root of that word is worthy of note; both the Latin blasphemare and Greek blasphēmein mean “to blaspheme.”

Effective and attractive leaders don’t play the blame game. They cover their workplace in prayer. They cover their people in prayer. They walk around the office, alone, praying individually for each employee. Either God is in control of your life and your work or you are. The later is folly and it will ruin your life.

Who is in control of your life?



Copyright (c)2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Thursday, October 15, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Wise Communication

The stored-up knowledge of experience becomes most useful when communicated wisely. It takes care to communicate “rightly” – proper time, proper place, and proper thoughts.

I understand this so very well, because sometimes I fail to wisely communicate. I blurt: Foolish thing to do. So, I've learned that in work, friends and family relationships, leaders communicate carefully

Proverbs 15:2 (NKJV) The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.

Using any of the many personality inventories gives clues to how a person processes information – how to speak their language. Blanchard/Hershey’s Situational Leadership posits that the right leadership communication style is based on the person being led: leaders communicate with awareness so that relationships can be built – that’s using knowledge rightly.

Foolish people practice “throwing it out there to see what sticks” with no concern to listener’s style, their underlying fears, or where they are in life experience – that’s more like “belch[ing] out foolishness” (NLT) than speaking.

Do you communicate wisely – at home, at work and at play?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: The Heart to Lead

Wisdom’s place in the heart is not ostentatious. It is quiet: a strength that leads to insightful understanding that has its foundation laid in a clear, personal purpose, a set of consistent ethics, and a compelling, yet coherent worldview.

In their groundbreaking work, Daft and Lengel, in Fusion Leadership point out that leaders must have heart to lead. They proclaim, [that a] “Fusion Leader stay[s] emotionally connected with people and work…and are collaborative and interdependent.”

Proverbs 14:33 (NLT) Wisdom is enshrined in an understanding heart; wisdom is not found among fools.

A heart of wisdom yields emotional connections that integrate grace and truth: not just the cold, hard facts of truth and not just the warm safety of grace; rather, this wise leader combines them in a way that compels understanding, positive emotional reaction and change. This leader’s vision “pursues higher purpose that touches the heart.” Whatever possesses a heart regulates living.

What's enshrined in your heart?



Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Monday, October 12, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Headstrong or Humble?

Proverbs12:15 (MSG) Fools are headstrong and do what they like; wise people take advice.

“Taking advice” defines effective leaders. They are the ones who have learned having an open mind yields beneficial results. That learning is life-long. Leaders learn to listen - not just hear - and are listening with the expectation of learning from the advice, no matter the source.

Advice comes in many forms: sometimes as a quiet comment from an unexpected source; other times, as an aside shared during a conversation; sometimes it comes unsolicited – the hardest of all advice to hear! In business settings, it may flow from those to whom you report, your peers, or those who report to you.

But it also strikes me that leaders lead because they first learned to follow - follow the One who has provided eternal advice about living whether at home or at work. Advices about letting go and letting God speak through His word or His workers.

Simply listening to advice and actually taking advice are two different activities.

Do you “do what you like” or do you “take advice?”




Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Friday, October 9, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Leaders and Life-long Learning

The acquiring of wisdom is a journey, not an event. The journey is not only revealing about “self” but also about the shape and expression of a leader’s ethics.

Proverbs 9:9 (AMP) Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man (one upright and in right standing with God) and he will increase in learning.

Our progress in life is a result of our choices and our willingness to learn from them. Employees and customers often teach us about the ethical framework (righteousness) we use to respond to “change.” Customer service, for one example, is a practical expression about a leader’s heart.

Servant-leaders must learn to discipline her/himself to continue to learn. These leaders work at body, mind and spirit congruence. They actively acquire the skills they need and hone the ones with which they have been endowed by their Creator. They become aware of the patterns of their behavior and the impact a behavior has on others.

The result for the Biblically based leader? They will behave in a way that:
  • Expresses love for God (obedience)
  • Demonstrates their love for the “neighbors.” (Isn’t that the essence of customer-service – looking out for their needs, before our own?)

The outcome? Their leadership will be clothed in justice and righteousness. Employees will be free to make customer-oriented decisions that benefit the firm. Customers will be attracted to companies that “do business right.” Families will be nurtured and grow the love God.

Are you consistently learning and growing? Or, have you become stagnate?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Thursday, October 8, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Focus

In Bruce Doyle III’s book Before You Think Another Thought he suggests that “what you focus on expands in your life…[and]…it is important to focus your attention effectively.”

Focus is a choice – a preference.

Proverbs 8:9-10 (MSG) [Wisdom speaking] Prefer my life--disciplines over chasing after money, and God-knowledge over a lucrative career. For Wisdom is better than all the trappings of wealth; nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.

The seductions of power, position and prestige can easily distract. Wisdom suggests that choosing to focus on spiritual disciplines and God-knowledge will yield something that wealth will never provide.

Leadership is not about what you preach or what you intend to do: it is about how you behave and the impact that has on people.

How you lead, what you do and say are the result of choosing the right things to focus upon. Begin by focusing on Wisdom – the focus that will prepare you each day to think, do and say the kind of things that not only please God, but also your followers.

As Bruce says it, “What you believe is just you will get.”

Do you believe in Wisdom?
Or wealth?
Your answer matters.



Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

LEADERSHIP Series: Managing Expectations

Proverbs 6:16-19
Here are six things God hates,
and one more that he loathes with a passion:
eyes that are arrogant,
a tongue that lies,
hands that murder the innocent,
a heart that hatches evil plots,
feet that race down a wicked track,
a mouth that lies under oath,
a troublemaker in the family.

God’s expectations for his people were, of course, communicated in the Decalogue; in light of those, Wisdom gives us insight into their application in practical living and when combined with Jesus’ insight about our thought life, this list, by itself, is challenging.

Understanding expectations is crucial for building meaningful relationships with those who led us and for our followers. Communicating expectations is a key the attractive leadership.

An exercise for expectation exploration that has produced positive results is expressed in my Key Success Factors Exercise. In general, the leadership team is asked to write for themselves, what success looks like for them in their job. Afterward, each then is asked to write what success looks like for the other. The first key is how congruent is the CEO’s view of expectations for each team member and each team member’s view of their success.

If you are interested in the process, click here and in the message section type in KSF.

Do you clearly communicate your expectations? Do you have a process for “checking it?”


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell